The ethical stance of your business is one of the most important factors for your company’s image. If your business has done something that causes your ethics to be called into question it can seriously affect your company and damage your reputation. In this climate it’s important to not do anything that might hinder your chances of contracting or retaining clients.
In this digital age it’s so easy to find something out about a company. It’s much more difficult to bury scandals and harmful press about your business. Chances are that if something has happened it will still be floating around on the internet. The best way to avoid this is to let nothing happen in the first place. Keeping your business as squeaky clean as you can is the best thing you can do. It can just take one incident to taint your company name.
The loss of trust recently in businesses and organisations means that this is more important than ever. If people want to pay for a service they are likely to research you. They want their investment in whatever service you provide to be solid and for them to receive a good return for their money. Since the recession people are far less willing to part with their money with something that isn’t a sure thing, so they are more likely to look deeply into your company and its ethical standards before committing to it.
Veteran banker Sir Win Bischoff, speaking at an Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) event said: “Companies must not think of ethics and culture as some sort of compliance exercise – it’s essential that boards lead by example. The one thing you realise is that however badly one of your competitors does and how well you do, you’re tainted. My view is that you have to get your own house in order first.”[1]
For more information on this take a look at the following article: http://www.iod.com/influencing/policy-news/businesses-must-be-more-ethical-say-leaders
